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Monday, October 8, 2012

Every
Monday, the awesome duo at Teach Mentor Texts hosts their What Are You
Reading? meme so that anyone who loves children's literature can share
the titles they've recently enjoyed as well as their reading plans for
the week! Thanks, Jen and Kellee!Be sure to head over to theTeach Mentor Textsblog to find out what everyone else is reading!

Last week I finally finished Libba Bray's The Diviners, and I am MAD! I probably should have realized this before I started reading it, but this is the first in a series, so, although there was some resolution at the novel's end, there were so many questions left unanswered! Now I'll have to pine away for the next one in the series! I hope Libba Bray is writing as quickly as she possibly can!

Aside from longing for a sequel, I found The Diviners to be divine. Part historical fiction, part murder mystery, part love story, part supernatural thriller, it has something for everyone. I love that Bray's characters, although they live in the Roaring 20s and possess mystical powers, are so real. I couldn't help but fall in love with Evie and wish, just a little, that I had a friend like her. Evie is witty, intelligent, and vulnerable, and she feels like someone I'd like to get to know.

The Diviners also sent chills down my spine and kept me guessing about its outcome until the very end. If Evie is one of the most lovable characters I've encountered, Naughty John is one of the most hideously terrifying! I never guessed that a string of murders in 1920s New York would unravel in the way it does. It's a great read!

My second read last week was One For the Murphys by Lynda Mullaly Hunt. This one is, by far, one of the best books I've read this year. Carley is a foster child who has been placed with the Murphy family after a traumatic experience involving her mom and stepdad. Although Carley resents the perfect family she now lives with in the beginning, she begins to view the world differently as she finds herself becoming one of the Murphys. This novel was heart-breaking and heart-warming at the same time. I couldn't put it down!

My plans for next week are to finish the novel I'm currently working on, The Five Lives of Our Cat Zook, and to get back in the habit of reading picture books!